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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Hong Kong

Given that aa, bb and cc are positive real numbers such that ab+bc+ca1ab + bc + ca \ge 1, prove that
1a2+1b2+1c23abc. \frac{1}{a^2} + \frac{1}{b^2} + \frac{1}{c^2} \ge \frac{\sqrt{3}}{abc}.

Solution

By the AM-GM inequality, we have
bca+cab=c(ba+ab)2c,cab+abc=a(cb+bc)2a,abc+bca=b(ac+ca)2b. \begin{aligned} \frac{bc}{a} + \frac{ca}{b} &= c\left(\frac{b}{a} + \frac{a}{b}\right) \ge 2c, \\ \frac{ca}{b} + \frac{ab}{c} &= a\left(\frac{c}{b} + \frac{b}{c}\right) \ge 2a, \\ \frac{ab}{c} + \frac{bc}{a} &= b\left(\frac{a}{c} + \frac{c}{a}\right) \ge 2b. \end{aligned}
Adding the three inequalities, we get
bca+cab+abca+b+c.(1) \frac{bc}{a} + \frac{ca}{b} + \frac{ab}{c} \ge a + b + c. \quad (1)
In addition, we have
a+b+c=(a2+b2+c2)+2(ab+bc+ca)3(ab+bc+ca)3.(2) a + b + c = \sqrt{(a^2 + b^2 + c^2) + 2(ab + bc + ca)} \ge \sqrt{3(ab + bc + ca)} \ge \sqrt{3}. \quad (2)
Combining (1) and (2), we obtain bca+cab+abc3\frac{bc}{a}+\frac{ca}{b}+\frac{ab}{c} \ge \sqrt{3}. This yields 1a2+1b2+1c23abc\frac{1}{a^2}+\frac{1}{b^2}+\frac{1}{c^2} \ge \frac{\sqrt{3}}{abc}.
Equality holds when a=b=c=13a=b=c=\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}.

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